I just came back from a weekend trip in Vienna, now I am heading out again, this time to Venice for Carnival.
Vienna looks like Budapest, but grander and bigger. Or rather, as my study abroad director points out, Budapest looks like Vienna as they use to be the dualing capitals in the Hapsburg empire; Budapest was always looking to outdo Vienna in terms of scale and grandeur.
I don't know what to expect for Venice yet. But I think it will be something good.
One of the things I love about Europe is their cafes. Right now I'm at a cafe right across the street from my flat, by the basilica. Snow is falling: it looks like a dream.
I'm going to a Spaparty - a "rave" in a Turkish bath, unique to Budapest. So excited!
A preview:
Today, we finally made it out of Hungary and took a day trip to Bratislava, Slovakia. (Photos to come!) It's a two and a half hour train ride out of Budapest's Keleti station. We left in the morning and arrived in Bratislava at noon. Coming out of the station, it was like my first night in Budapest: a strange form of culture shock. Like being transported back in time.
The Soviet legacy is still very obvious in Central and Eastern Europe. It reminds me of my childhood in communist China in an unsettling way. The same infrastructure; the same style of building; the statues.
I chose Budapest because I wanted to be somewhere completely different. A place removed from my childhood in China, my growing up in Canada, and my high school and college years in the United States. Strangely enough, Central Europe is making me confront my issues with the East and the West in a way I never anticipated. Instead, I step into my past, my present, and my future.
Central Europe is a place caught between two cultures and two histories; in many ways, still playing catch up to the modern industrialized state. I am someone who is also caught between two traditions and still trying to figure out how to integrate these different identities into a coherent whole.
We really do find pieces of ourselves in places when we least expected it.
